Alaitoch
'''The Alaitoch are a dying, sentient and intelligent race from the Great Dark Beyond, hailing from several worlds controlled by distinct factions of their race. They are somewhat tall and very slim, yet agile and extremely perceptive. In terms of looks, they are most similar to the current Sin'dorei, however, the Alaitoch males are akin to their own females with the only differences being voice, strength, gender and the absence of the female bust.' Brief History The Beginning The Alaitoch originally hailed from a distant planet named Kerylin in their tongue. They first appeared in the northern reaches of the planet, living on the frigid, yet extremely still and sturdy glaciers for decades, suffering several attacks and Alaitoch hunts orchestrated by the other savage natives of the planet, far in the south. Given the feebleness of their very being, the Alaitoch could not stand alone in independant villages and settlements, and thus, yearning for a way to fend off the savages plaguing their lands, they had all banded together to form the first ever Alaitoch society, and their first ever capital city. The city was dubbed Eil'Lin, translated as "city of hope" in their language, and the people of said city were governed by the Alaitoch Council, consisting of nine permanant members until their eventual deaths. With their race united under one banner, they were able to advance in technology and warfare quite swiftly, and fended off the savage offensives against them with ease, striking fear into their hearts and ensuring a golden age of peace for the Alaitoch which would last for centuries. A New Era As all good things must come to an end, so does peace and tranquility. During the Alaitoch golden age, a young and ambitious soul had been given the gift of life into a small and humble family. This new soul had been given the name Zaunyrile, and it grew to become a skilled warrior of a young man, serving under the Alaitoch army as a Council Guard. The young lad had become a shining star among the army in only a few years, advancing his rank up until he was in charge of the military himself. But Zaunyrile was discontent with living a mundane and uneventful life now that there was nothing to fear, nor lose, nor gain. He pondered while pointlessly assigning his subordinates guarding positions until he made up his mind. Zaunyrile called for the Alaitoch Council urgently, informing them that a large-scale assault was coming from the south, and that they needed to discuss the matter in front of the masses and inform them. The Council agreed to Zaunyrile's proposition, but they could not have forseen what was about to happen. He and his most loyal troops slaughtered the Council right in front of the masses, subduing the Alaitoch people with terror tactics and proclaiming the beginning of a new era, the era of Zaunyrile's rule, and the beginning of his crusade to conquer the entire planet. The Kerylian Crusade With Zaunyrile proclaimed as High Overlord of Eil'Lin and the Alaitoch, he switched his methods from terror tactics to inspiration and propaganda. Nearly all of the Alaitoch population had been militarized, be it focusing on sorcery, marksmanship, close quarters combat or technological prowess for military purposes. In addition to militarizing the people, he formed a somewhat secret organization only loyal to him, giving it the name Zau'Caith (Covenant of Shadow). It would function as a sort of inquisition in order to weed out traitors amongst his own. Soon enough, the preperations were complete and Zaunyrile had begun a war waging across the entire planet, historians dubbing it the Kerylian Crusade. The Alaitoch had six armies in total to defile and ravage until they could call the entire planet their own. First to fall were the Grell, the savage, barbaric and tribal army they had fended off against in the past and now easily decimated. They then proceeded to battles against the Vohresh, a race physically more feeble than the Alaitoch themselves, but highly skilled in using their own dead as puppets for war, enhancing their abilities for combat via sorcery. They were not conquered as easily as the Grell, but they posed very little threat in the long run. Next came a race whose records became lost in time. All that is known is that they were peaceful and had allied themselves with Zaunyrile until they met their end at the hands of the Zau'Caith, completely erasing all traces of this race. Not long after, the Alaitoch had faced off against two sub-races of the Grell, proving much more formidable than the Grell themselves. Finally, Zaunyrile's victorious crusade was about to reach its end, their final enemy being an insectoid species completely devoted to the will of the Old Gods (who were unknown to the Alaitoch at this time), namely Kh'ehk. The Alaitoch lost almost half of its population battling these insectoid creatures, but ultimately committed genocide once again, finally claiming the entire planet as their own. The High Overlord had triumphed and was praised. His ambitions had brought him a long way, and he had finally given his people what he thought they wanted... a world to call their own. The Crusade's Aftermath and the Great Despair Unfortunately, the cycle of despair after hope had repeated itself once more. The High Overlord secretly began to rummage through the records and tomes of the now extinct insectoid race, studying the existence of the Old Gods thoroughly. He had become obsessed with them up until the point when he had secretly begun worshipping them. Zaunyrile brought the Old God Kh'ehk into the Zau'Caith as a figure of unquestionable worship until he began spreading word of Kh'ehk amongst his people, ordering his worship to be mandatory. Those who had accepted to worship Kh'ehk began viewing Zaunyrile as the God-King of the Alaitoch, and he even changed his attire to fit his newly founded belief system which completely denied the basis of Alaitoch culture. Of course, there were oh so many who outright rejected the mere thought of destroying their previously established ideology and views. This caused many portions of the army and the public to break off and form their own organizations to protect what they believed in by using different methods. As a result, the following were initially formed: Eil'Caith (Covenant of Hope), Yorai'Caith (Covenant of War), Noro'Caith (Covenant of Laughter), Tan'Caith (Covenant of Light). These Covenants were the first to protest against Zaunyrile's new belief system, commencing an outright attack against him and his loyalists, thus starting the Alaitoch civil war known as the Great Despair. All who did not partake in the civil war were slaughtered. Those who fought for freedom were hunted. Those who hunted them were also hunted. It was a horrifying cycle of death and discord. The capital city was decimated in most areas, several smaller opposition movements were crushed, as were several smaller preservation movements. No matter how hard each side fought, their battles almost always resulted in stalemates or tactical withdrawals. In the end, however, the High Overlord had brought Kh'ehk's influence to the entire world with a failed attempt to summon him. The vegetation crumbled, the earth shattered, the sky darkened, and the covenants that opposed Zaunyrile had begun departing from this now accursed world, seeking a better life for the now dying Alaitoch elsewhere... Far away from the Festering God-King, Zaunyrile, who stayed behind with his loyal Zau'Caith, watching over the once lush world he had conquered.The remaining covenants now wander the Great Dark Beyond in their interstellar ships, each seeking new planets to call home. Culture The culture of the Alaitoch is probably the most respected part of their society. Even with them splitting into several different factions, their culture still thrives and is evolving to this day. Language The language of the Alaitoch is referred to as Altrich (or Kerylari by Zaunyrile and the Zau'Caith). Commonly used words: *'Eil - Hope''' *'Zau - Shadow' *'Yorai - War' *'Noro - Laughter' *'Tan - Light' *'Biel - Love' *'Caith - Covenant' *'Lin - City' *'Akraz - Revenge' *'Rakshi - Inbred' *'Stez - Honor' *'Metorin - Despair' *'Nylak - Deity' *'Torei - King/Ruler' *'Oros - Victory' *'Koroz - Death' 'Newly formed words: *'Leirin - Human *'Leiros - Dwarf' *'Leiven - Gnome' *'N'karo - Orc' *'Brantei - Tauren' *'Leikshi - Undead' *'H'renik - Troll' *'H'ezik - Night Elf' *'H'esit - High Elf' *'H'esile - Blood Elf' *'Shisdar - Furbolg '(literally meaning fur beast) 'Commonly used phrases: *'Eil vylerennai - May hope guide you *'Korvon nei rakshi nylak-torei - Forget the inbred god-king '(mainly used for greetings) *'Oros voi koroz - Victory or death '(the Altrich take on a common Orcish phrase) Types and Specialities The Alaitoch are a highly advanced species, and although most of their state of the art technology is back with Zaunyrile on their home planet of Kerylin, they are still extremely formidable in this aspect. As a result, most of their non-military population consists of scientists. They are a culture-loving people and they do extremely well with learning languages, and would most likely not shy from studying the culture and society of other neutral or friendly species. Scholars and historians are not uncommon among them. Alaitoch are highly skilled in what they perceive as sorcery, although it is not akin to Azeroth's magic. It is purely psychic and does not control any elements or conjure actual objects, but it encompasses telekinetic powers, mind manipulation and actual electricity manipulation to an extent. Sorcerers are divided into Seers and Farseers in their culture. Seers are the basic military unit using psychic sorcery as their weapon, and Farseers are usually leaders of Alaitoch Covenants and their psychic sorcery level far surpasses any Seer's. They are more often than not female, but male Farseers among the Alaitoch are not very rare either. The bulk of their military relies on agility and surprise rather than brute force. Strategy and cunning are their best allies. Alaitoch close combat units mainly consist of Howlers and Stingers. Howlers are almost exclusively female combatants wielding long one-handed blades and pistol-like ranged weaponry in the event of long-range combat scenarios. Stingers are assassins among the Alaitoch and exclusively fight with dagger-like armaments, usually embalmbed with poison. The Alaitoch's most common ranged units consist of Royal Guards. They wield Alaitoch-styled rifles and have specially crafted combat knives for close combat situations. Royal Guards are most likely to be males. Dragonflies are the Alaitoch's artillery-based units, using heavy long-range cannon-like armaments to blow the enemy to shreds from a distance. They are usually female. Aside from actual living military units, they tend to use floating vehicles for various purposes, be they military or transport. Beliefs The belief system of the Alaitoch is focused around a couple of central deities. These being: *'Norolak - The God of Laughter' *'Yoraisha - The God of War' *'Eilyrith - The Goddess of Hope' '''Certain covenants are based around the ideologies of some of these deities, whereas others incorporate all of them, or none at all. They are, however, a big part of Alaitoch culture, and certain traditions regarding these deities are respected even if they are not related to a covenant's goal. Aside from this, the Zau'Caith worship the Old God Kh'ehk, but this falls into the category of heresy for the Alaitoch culture. Even if certain covenants are not particularly fanatical about their beliefs (and they usually are not), they still have many reasons to resent the Zau'Caith. Traditions The Alaitoch have several customs and traditions in their culture, most being forgotten ever since Kerylin's corruption, but others still hold up to this day and are regularly practiced. The '''Vyor'al is a sacred Alaitoch ritual which is based around preserving and honoring the souls of the deceased. It encompasses a sort of burial ceremony, however, mourning the loss of the deceased during this ritual is considered imoplite. Once the ceremony ends, a Farseer or Seer attending the occasion transfers the soul of the deceased Alaitoch into a pendant, trinket or ring, handing it to the deceased Alaitoch's next of kin or closest friend, depending on the circumstances. The object carrying the soul is not meant to simply be a memento, but it also serves as a good luck charm and enhances ones abilities depending on their already acquired skill (a Seer will do better in sorcery, whereas a Howler's skill in combat will increase). The Stez'orai '''is a traditional occasion in which an Alaitoch advancing into higher ranks of the military must have an honorable one-on-one duel with the leader of their Covenant, or the leader of another Covenant if an agreement for such a situation is made. No matter the Alaitoch's speciality, the Stez'orai must always be done with specially crafted ritual blades, and the battle must not result in bloodshed, or it will be considered treason (be it for the one who must undergo this trial, or the Farseer he or she must show their skill to). The '''Kerystez is a simple ritual all Alaitoch must undergo. It functions as a coming of age ceremony which must be completed at the time an Alaitoch has ended the fifth decade of his life (and they can live up to four centuries). It is a simple process in which they must use the Stez'orai ritual blades to cut the palm of their right hand, letting the blood drop on a planet's vegetation. This is considered to honor all the losses of their brothers and sisters on Kerylin, as well as a reminder of the horrible atrocities that had occurred there. OOC Information *Use female blood elf models for both male and female Alaitoch unless corrupted. Corrupted and or Old God influenced Alaitoch (namely Zau'Caith) may use male models. *Eil'Caith Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSgT6GnBiic *Zau'Caith Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD_IRiEQdtA *Noro'Caith Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcEizDACxNk *Yorai'Caith Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghmxbGPLvtk *Tan'Caith Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbWaZtD0Op8 *Armor sets used for Alaitoch characters should cover up most of the body, and especially the head unless the character is a Farseer or a high-ranking leader of a certain squad of units and chooses not to wear a helmet. Look at the images on the page for inspiration. *Colour schemes of the armor is quite pivotal, as it normally shows which Covenant a certain Alaitoch belongs to. An example of this would be that the Yorai'Caith are the only Covenant to have a reddish colour scheme.